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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Philosophical Life Lessons (for all of us) from a Shaved Collie

First of all, you have to know that I don't put up dog pictures lightly. But a shaved collie, especially one who thinks of himself as a super model, well, it's worth a moment of reflection. We've all stumbled when trying to figure out who we are, why we matter, how we're supposed to exist in this crazy world. The search for identity, it's crucial.

And a shaved collie is kind of like a buzzed Fabio.

It's like waking up one morning and realizing you're just a corgi on HGH.

You wander into the yard expecting to be windblown and nothing happens.

Windblown is your look.

Without windblown, you ask yourself, who am I?And then the soulful work begins. There's some nervous scratching, some disorientation. There's the way people look at you differently now -- even your fellow dogs. (Perhaps it's the fact that they left some fringe-y wisp to your tail that puts your new nudity in starker relief.)

But then you sniff. You romp. Here's the world and here you are in it -- still all dog at heart.

No longer bound by some of the arbitrary definitions of breeding and class, you belong to yourself.

You are dog.

You are more essentially yourself than you've ever been before.

Maybe you're not even dog. Isn't that just another limitation?

Maybe you are soul with ears and snout and eyes and beating heart. You simply are.